


The Impossible Encounter

by Neo_Ryu (MasakoAkira)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27426625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MasakoAkira/pseuds/Neo_Ryu
Summary: Steven goes to Homeworld and is introduced to someone he never thought he would meet.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 20





	1. She Is So Much Like You

Steven was staring in disbelief at her. She was impossible. She should not be able to be there, but it wasn’t that long ago that they said the same of him. She stood there in that familiar pink outfit that he had worn for a brief time, but his mother had worn until she became Rose Quartz.

“Isn’t she breathtaking, Steven? She is so much like you!” Steven heard the sing-songy voice from above his head, but he could not break his gaze from the eyes of the young girl in front of him. Those eyes, his eyes, her eyes...Pink Diamond’s eyes.

Earlier that day, before everything went crazy, Steven was sleeping in his bed when he heard a chiming sound. In his tired state, he reached out and pushed the snooze on his phone and laid back for a little more sleep. The chiming sound happened again and he slightly woke up enough to think  _ I know I didn’t fall asleep yet, what the heck _ ? He sat up in bed and heard the chiming again. It wasn’t coming from his alarm as made doubly obvious by the fact that it was 2:14 A.M. The sound was coming from the observation deck upstairs meaning that it was either an emergency or the Diamonds bothering him. There was a guess as to which one he was betting on. Steven put on the clothes that he had taken off from the day before and grumbled as he walked up the stairs and into the observatory.

The console was lit up and the diamond communication line was hovering and flashing. Steven touched his hand to the pink symbol on the screen and the octahedron separated into the face of White Diamond.

“Hey White, I’m pretty sure that I gave you a clock so that you would know what time it was and specifically gave you a time frame to not call unless it is an emergency,” Steven said as his eyes narrowed upon seeing White’s grin.

“Oh Steven, but it is an emergency! There is a poor...human on Homeworld and we don’t know how to take care of humans, not like you can. The two of you have SO much in common being...human and all! Please come to Homeworld to help us take care of the poor child.” White’s grin was growing slowly as she spoke and Steven was fully awake now. 

“A human on Homeworld? How could that even happen?” Steven’s mind was racing with thoughts and although he was suspicious of White’s behavior he did agree that a human trapped on Homeworld is an emergency.

“Will you please come and help this poor child, Steven?” White said, doing her equivalent of pouting.

“I’m already at the Homeworld warp, so I’ll be there in a second,” Steven said as he stepped onto the crystal platform.

“Oh, thank you, Steven! I just can’t wait for the two of you to meet! You hear that, Starlight?” White looked down to have someone turn off the screen.  _ Wait, White only calls one person Starlight _ , Steven thought just before the warp engulfed him and he was off to Homeworld. Steven stepped off of the warp pad and was in the throne room, but White was not there. He looked around and saw a familiar smiling face walking toward him. Despite how irritated he was at the situation, he still grinned when he saw her. 

“Hi Volleyball, how are you? Do you know where White is?” 

Pink Pearl smiled back at him and slightly lowered her head and swept her arms towards the door. 

“White Diamond is awaiting you in her room, Yellow and Blue are also assisting in entertaining the young one,” Pink Pearl said. She sighed slightly and Steven could barely make out that she had spoken through the sigh, only heard “So radiant.” 

He shook his head and really wished that she didn’t still think of him as Mom but he had other things to deal with right now. It seemed that he now had to deal with all three diamonds. “Uh, thank you, Volleyball. Please take me to White.” 

Pink Pearl opened the door to White’s room, announcing, “Steven Universe is here to see you at your request, My Diamond.” 

White looked up and her smile gleamed at Steven. She was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed and was partially obstructed from his sight due to Blue and Yellow sitting in front of her. 

“Oh, Steven, welcome we are pleased that you came so promptly when White summoned you.” Yellow said, looking over her shoulder at Steven in the doorway as he was walking closer. Blue had not turned to look at him and she seemed to be doing something as her shoulders were moving and her head was bowed. 

“Hello, Steven, I’m so sorry that I can’t greet you properly. I’m having a lovely time with our guest, she is so much like Pink,” Blue stated. 

Steven quickened his pace with his mind racing. The Diamonds would never call a human Pink. Something was going on here and he was put on guard.

“Come now Blue, let Steven meet our little Starlight,” White said as she leaned down. She then said something in a lower voice as Steven stopped out of arm’s reach. He knew that Yellow could electrocute him from much farther but it made him feel a little better. Steven heard Blue sigh and she and Yellow stood and walked on either side of White. They looked directly at Steven to see his reaction to the individual that was now standing between him and White.

“Steven, are you there? You look like you’ve been miles away.” 

Steven finally blinked and was almost face to face with her. At some point, he had fallen down to his knees in disbelief. He shook his head and looked at the girl in front of him. He finally managed to speak. 

“Hello there, I’m Steven Universe. Who are you?” The girl was younger than him. She smiled and as she did, Steven’s breath caught in his chest. 

“Hi Steven, I’m Nora Universe! It’s so great to finally meet you!”

Steven felt himself starting to glow pink with the name ‘Nora Universe’ repeating in his head over and over like a hammer hitting a spike into his brain. He looked at Nora from top to bottom and right there where his gem was on him, there was an identical, but chipped and cracked one. He blinked with this realization that her gem was damaged and began to calm down, feeling the energy bleed away with his anger. He then looked into Nora’s eyes again and saw that she was frightened by what she had just witnessed. She was backing toward White, who now had a frown upon her face. 

“Steven, you will explain yourself this instant!” Yellow glared at him lightning practically crackling from her hands, taking a step beyond White. White held out a hand and Yellow visibly calmed instantly. 

“Steven, what is wrong? We don’t understand why you are so angry with Nora,” White said. 

Steven started at the Diamonds completely dumbfounded. He knew that they didn’t know anything about human family and culture but he thought that they were making progress. But to do something like this?! This?! 

“White, I’m going to keep an open mind here before I get any more angry, but I need to know who she is and where did she come from?” To this, White smiled again, not as bright as before, but it was a smile of pride. 

“She came from the same place that you did only, not the same way as we could not replicate Pink giving her form to sustain you.” White waved her hand. Pink, Blue, and Yellow Pearl came out carrying Steven’s chair that he used when he visited, a table, and a second chair for Nora. The half gems both sat at the table across from each other and waited for White to continue. Blue took a step past White and looked at him. 

“Steven, you told us the story of how Pink had faked her own shattering,” said Blue. He nodded, already not liking where this conversation was going. “Well we didn’t know that it was fake until then so when we thought she was shattered, her court looked everywhere for the pieces of her gem. They were brought to me at my request and Yellow and I began to put her back together. We took those shards that Pink had poured her power into to make a fake version of her gem that was believable enough that it fooled even us.” Blue began to tear up which sent a few tears out of Steven and Nora’s eyes. 

Yellow continued on. “We were able to piece the fake together and try as we might, we could not get Pink back. No matter how much power we poured into her gem, she would not emerge. Ultimately, it was a wasted effort. We even begged White to assist to which she also put some of her power into the gem in an effort to bring Pink out.” Yellow sighed and lowered her head slightly before standing back up straight and looking at Steven. “I would say that it was a complete waste of our power, but...” She looked at Nora and smiled just the slightest touch. “We found a use for that energy.” 

Steven had taken all of this information and looked a question at the trio in front of him to which White held up her hand and stated “The Zoo.” He thought about what that could mean and was really not in the mood for 20 Questions with the Diamonds. That was when it hit him as if a weight had crushed all of the energy out of him. 

The Zoo. 

He remembered back to when he was being processed. He remembered that they had cleaned him, dressed him, and took a small sample of his blood. He then had a mental image of his dad smiling at him while wearing the clothes from the zoo. 

“The blood, my blood or Dad’s?” 

White beamed then stated, “Very good Steven, very good. It was from your “Dad” as we wanted to replicate Pink’s original actions as closely as possible. We didn’t know if your blood would work without Pink.” He deflated into his chair once she was finished talking. 

“Are you sick too?” Nora looked at him with concern on her face. 

“No, Nora, I’m not sick. I’ve never been sick.” He paused here and looked at her again. “Are you sick?”

Nora looked down slightly and nodded slowly. “Yeah ever since I emerged. I’ll be fine and play with the pearls or the diamonds but then it’ll feel like I can’t breathe and can’t move. It’s…” 

“Scary,” he finished her sentence while looking at White, remembering how he felt when his gem was removed. Concern was all over their faces and White looked down in shame. 

“I believe that you know why we asked you to come here now. We do not know what to do for Nora as gems do not get sick. She is so weak and we just don’t know what to do,” White said while still looking down. 

Steven sighed and stood up “Guys this is really messed up, you can’t just create a life and hide her away for—” He looked her up and down again with more scrutiny. “—years since she looks to be about 7 or 8. How old are you, Nora?” Nora blinked at the question and looked at the Diamonds for help. 

“She is only one Earth year old. We accelerated her growth in hopes that she could contain the power in the gem better since her human infant body was even more frail than she is now. We used a technology that we gained from another race that was made of clone soldiers and input all of the knowledge that she would need according to what your Pearl and the fusion informed us of when we were being taught what human children are. This is the first real time that she has moved since she was created.” Steven’s jaw had dropped and he now knew what she meant by emerged earlier. Blue knelt down until she was sitting on her legs and looked at Steven. 

“Please see if you can heal her gem, it’s the only way that we think that she will get better,” Blue said. He shook his head and looked at his one year old sister with deep sorrow and disbelief squeezing his heart. 

“How did you find out about the name Nora?” Steven asked as he slowly looked at them, sadness sapping his energy. 

“When Aquamarine was gathering information on you and gathering up your friends with Topaz, she discovered your Crystal Gem temple. She reported that she had watched an Earth device that had Rose Quartz on it. She gave a full report of every action and word. When we decided to do this, we felt since this was another child of Pink, this was the name to give her.” Steven visibly twitched from this comment. “It was decided to use the other name she had preferred.” 

A slight cough was heard from across from him. Nora was looking pale and she was coughing but trying to keep it quiet. He sighed in defeat and looked at the Diamonds.

“I’ll help her since I can’t leave her like this. It would be punishing her for being born. I know what that feels like and it’s not a good feeling,” Steven said, slight anger lacing his voice. All three diamonds slightly deflated, remembering how much they had caused him to suffer. Blue smiled at him 

“Thank you Steven. Will you try and heal her gem now?” Blue asked. Steven shook his head slowly and looked at them. 

“I’m going to take her to Earth and have her looked at by a specialist.” 

Yellow stepped forward again. “You will not take her to that planet. How could you think that a human could treat her better than us?” 

His eyes narrowed as he looked her in the eyes. “She is the same doctor that I went to when she was trying to figure out why my powers were out of control. She was the one that diagnosed a half human, half gem with PTSD. Thanks to what you three did to me, she is now a specialist on half human gems.” 

Yellow stepped back and her shoulders dropped. “Very well. Take her to this doctor, but if anything should happen to her, you will be held responsible, Pin...Steven.” She walked out of the room then followed shortly by Blue. 

“Thank you Steven, please take care of our Nora.” she stated in passing before following Yellow. 

“Starlight?” 

Steven quickly looked up at White and was about to tell her not to call him that name. She was looking at Nora who looked up at her with adoration on her sickly looking face. 

“Yes, my radiance?” Steven did not like the title that she had associated with White but it didn’t seem like a title that White had enforced on her but more of a parental title. “Please go with Steven. He is like you and nowhere in the entire universe is there a pair like you. The children of Pink Diamond. He will take care of you and get you better so that you can choose where you would like to belong.” 

White looked at Steven now with the smile gone and concern lined her face. She almost pleaded with him. “Please do not punish her for what we have done to you. Show her the mercy that we did not know how to show you or Pink. Save our Starlight, Steven.” 

With that, he reached out to Nora with a smile. “Come with me, Nora. I promise that we’ll get you better. After that if you want I’ll show you Earth and whatever else you want to see.”

Nora had stars in her pupils instead of diamonds for just a second as she smiled a huge toothy smile that looked exactly like Steven’s. He chuckled to himself and they stepped onto the warp pad. It activated to take the Universe children home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MasakoAkira (account owner) here! Neo_Ryu is the pseud that my husband uses for this account and I am trying to get him to continue on with the story. The note that is under this was left by him from the time that this was originally posted, so I’m just gonna keep it here:
> 
> I know that this fic is taking off, but I will not update as frequently as I would like as life stuff is occurring. Please leave your comments and feedback.
> 
> Thanks!


	2. Her Name Is Nora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven seeks out a professional opinion for his situation the Diamonds put him into.

Steven had warped countless times but this was the most stressful one ever and that includes the time that he was kidnapped by Peridot. He glanced at Nora, still holding his hand, but hers was smaller, more delicate than he would have thought. She didn’t look good, like she was being drained right before his eyes. 

“Nora, are you okay?” She looked up at him and looked pale even with the warp’s light all around them. She slowly shook her head and clutched her gem. “We’re almost there, just hold on.” 

They touched down on the warp pad in the temple and Nora hit the floor almost lifelessly. Steven quickly scooped her up, grabbed his cell phone, and punched Connie’s number. It started ringing. Glancing at the clock in all of this, he noticed that it was just a little after 7:30 A.M. Connie would be up and might be in the shower right now, getting ready for the day. 

“Steven?!” He gave a big sigh of relief upon hearing her voice. “What’s wrong? You almost never call me this early! Is everyone okay?!” He could hear the concern rising in her voice and he started to tell her everything, but stopped himself as he looked down at Nora. “Connie, there isn’t time! I promise that I’ll tell you everything but first, is your mom there?” 

“My mom’s at the hospital. Steven, are you hurt?! I’ll be there on Lion in a minute. Let me put on some clothes.” 

Steven smiled with relief. “I’m not hurt, but please hurry on Lion, we need to see your mom as soon as possible.”

A few tense minutes passed as Steven kept talking to Nora and she was weakly trying to talk to him. “It’s going to be fine Nora, Dr. Maheswaran is the best in the universe at this. She will get you all fixed up, I promise.” 

“There’s no way she is better than White.” Nora slightly puffed up her cheeks looking indignantly at him. “My radiance is the bestest and most pretty in the everything! This lady might be good but she is not better than her or Blue or Yellow.” 

Steven smiled at her but felt uncomfortable when they locked eyes. Seeing Pink Diamond’s eyes staring at him from anything, other than his memories or at bad times, and from his mirror was unsettling. He heard the temple door open and felt a weight drop into his stomach. He turned to meet Garnet’s gaze. 

She had removed her glasses before she had come out of the temple. “It’s not possible, Steven, it’s not possible. Please tell me you aren’t holding who I foresaw you are.” 

Steven grinned sadly and turned so Garnet could see her. “Garnet, I’d like you to meet my sister, Nora.” Tears rolled down Garnet’s face as she met eyes with Nora, who weakly smiled at her. 

“Lady, you’re tall and pretty but not as pretty or as tall as my radiance.” 

Garnet’s face looked like she had taken a physical blow with that last word. She looked up from Nora at Steven and he could see her composure shatter on her face. 

“Garnet, I promise that I will tell you and everyone everything, but she is hurt and I need to get her to Dr. Maheswaran. Connie is on her way with Lion as we speak. Could you keep everyone else from coming out until we’re gone? We don’t have enough time for everyone’s questions right now.” 

Garnet put her shades on and looked around. She leapt over into the kitchen and grabbed the refrigerator and leapt back to the temple door and placed it in front of the door. Turning, she gave a thumbs up “Go and help her Steven. I’ve got this for now.”

Connie warped in, her hair still very wet and slightly wrapped around her sword on her back. “Steven, I’m here.” He leapt up and lightly landed on Lion’s back behind Connie. 

“Lion, quick, take us to Dr. Maheswaran.” Steven heard a weak gasp from Nora and she was reaching out to touch Lion’s back. 

She had stars in her eyes again “Steven!? What is that? It’s so pretty! I just want to hold it forever.” He looked down at her as Lion leapt through the warp with a roar. 

“I’ll formally introduce you once you get better.” Steven actually smiled at her amazement at seeing Lion. 

This is about the time that Steven learned that he should have told Lion to go to the hospital, not to the doctor. They exited Lion’s warp and skidded to a stop in the middle of the break room, where Dr. Maheswaran was on the phone. She turned to the four of them in disbelief. 

“Dr. Akira, I’m going to have to call you back. I just had an emergency drop into my lap that I must attend to.” She closed her phone and looked at her daughter. “Connie, explain this right now.” Steven, slid off of Lion and carried Nora to the doctor. 

“Dr. Maheswaran, Connie, Lion, I would like you all to meet my little sister, Nora.” 

If the situation hadn’t been so dire, Steven would have laughed as the mother and daughter had almost the exact same expression on their faces. Steven hadn’t seen Dr. Maheswaran with that look on her face since she found them with his mom’s sword. 

“Doctor, I know that this is sudden but she is really sick and since you’re the expert on half gem half humans, I was hoping that you could help her.” 

The doctor was quick to spring into action. “Steven, what are her symptoms?” She reached down and opened Nora’s eye to examine it and jumped back slightly. She snapped her gaze up to Steven’s face. 

“Yeah, it’s complicated. She is really weak, it’s hard for her to breathe, and her gem is acting up.” 

“Hmm, well let’s get her to a room so I can do a proper examination. Connie, please go down to the nurse’s station and ask her to get Dr. Akira to cover my next appointments. He owes me a few at this point. Steven, please bring Nora and follow me.” 

“Yes ma’am.” Connie strode out of the door while Lion opened another warp and disappeared. Steven heard a really weak whisper from Nora that he could barely make out.

“Nnnooo, don’t go, pretty Lion,” Nora said, weakly. Steven smiled and shook his head at her.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get to play with Lion a lot later.”

“Promise?” Nora looked up and weakly locked eyes with him.

“Promise.” At this point, the doctor waved them into a room and instructed him to lay her down on the table.

“Nora, do you feel like you could put this on or do you need help?” Nora looked at the blue hospital gown and looked at Steven.

“Dr. Maheswaran, Nora is like me and has never been to the hospital. However, unlike me, she didn’t have television to fill in a few of the basics.” She turned and looked at the two of them and sighed out of frustration and buzzed for a nurse to come and assist.

“Steven, do you want to stay for the examination or do you want to step outside?” Steven looked at Nora and expected for her to look frightened, but she was still looking at the gown and around the room with curiosity.

“Nora, I’m going to step out into the hallway, but if you need me, all you have to do is call me.” She looked at him and nodded weakly.

“Hey lady, what kind of gem are you supposed to be?” She asked the doctor.

“I am not a gem, I’m a doctor. Your doctor, it would seem.” She looked up to see Steven smile at her as he closed the door after stepping around a female nurse who walked into the room.

Steven slumped to the floor, suddenly exhausted and rested his head on his knees. After a few minutes of silence, he felt a cold sensation touch his cheek. He looked up and saw Connie standing there, offering him a can of juice. She smiled at him as he took the offered drink.

“You look exhausted. Do you want to tell me what all happened now or after you’ve rested?” Steven watched her as she slid down the wall beside him and lightly rested her head on his shoulder. He rested his cheek on the top of her head and took a deep breath before telling her everything.

“So they just made you a sister out of nowhere and didn’t tell anyone? That is seriously messed up. Now they are playing on your good nature to get you to fix their experiment since it is broken and they can’t figure it out.” Connie was fuming as she spoke. “I’m tempted to warp to Homeworld right now and give them a piece of my mind!” 

“No, Connie, don’t do that. It’s not like they would understand either way. They just aren’t human so creating her out of Dad’s blood and the shattered pieces that Mom created is the same as using a Kindergarten and an injector. They don’t understand the harm since they’ve been doing it for millenia.” It was his turn to rest his cheek on her shoulder and he gave a big yawn. The nurse that had entered earlier turned and looked at them. 

“Steven? The doctor said that you can come in now.” She had a slightly concerned look on her face. She then turned to walk back to the nurses station at the end of the hall while Steven and Connie stood up and went inside the examination room.

“Steven, I don’t know how to tell you this, but it would seem that there is nothing physically wrong with Nora. She is fatigued and has labored breathing, but in the middle of the examination she was suddenly energetic and displayed none of the previous symptoms that were afflicting her.” They all looked at Nora, who was sitting up smiling at Steven and Connie and slightly kicking her feet as they dangled from the examination table. 

“Dr. Maheswaran, did you listen to her gem while you were doing your examination?” She looked up from her laptop where she had been typing her notes and nodded at Steven. “Yes, I did and it was quiet. Hers was unlike yours which had the sounds of energy for lack of a better way of describing it.”

“Can you listen again?” Steven asked.

She raised an eyebrow but put her stethoscope into her ears and placed the end onto the young hybrid’s gem. Her eyes went wide as she looked at Steven. “Now it sounds the same as yours. What is happening here, Steven?”

“I think her gem is dying. From the way she described the way she was feeling was the same way I felt when...” He paused and looked at Connie. She visibly paled in front of them. 

“When your gem was removed,” Connie said. Steven solemnly nodded as the doctor looked between the two of them then back to Nora.

“Well if it’s a gem issue then we’re very limited on what I can do for her. As far as her human half is concerned, she is fine. As far as her gem, well, I would have to defer to your expertise on that.” She stood and walked to Steven and Connie. “Please keep me apprised of her condition if you want me to continue to examine her in the future.” She relaxed and smiled then. “Please make an appointment next time as well. No more popping out of thin air. I’m just thankful that I wasn’t in a patient’s room.” Connie nodded and Steven rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled in embarrassment. 

“Come on Nora, let’s get you back to the temple so that we can introduce you to the rest of the family,” Steven said.

Nora hopped down and did a slight curtsy to the doctor before taking Steven’s hand. “Thank you, my doctor.”. They walked out into the hallway where Lion was waiting. 

“Connie, please warp outside of the hospital!” They heard her mother yell from inside the room. The four of them walked out of the front door to many startled faces of people looking at the three of them and a pink lion. Once they walked out the front door, they jumped on Lion’s back and were warping back to the temple so that they could figure out the next part of the plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MasakoAkira (account owner) here! Neo_Ryu is the pseud that my husband uses for this account and I am trying to get him to continue on with the story. The note that is under this was left by him from the time that this was originally posted, so I’m just gonna keep it here:
> 
> I know that this fic is taking off, but I will not update as frequently as I would like as life stuff is occurring. Please leave your comments and feedback.
> 
> Thanks!


	3. Pearl's Hurt/ Nora's Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven introduces Nora to the rest of the Crystal Gems. Old wounds are reopened.

Lion exited the warp on the beach in front of the temple. As they climbed down from Lion’s back, Steven looked up at the house and knew that the gems were waiting for him. He was dreading what was coming as he was sure it was going to cause some tension among them. Steven looked back at Lion and Nora. She was laying on his back and was holding him tight. Lion had an unamused look on his face as he sat down and Nora didn’t budge, but held tighter. 

“Come on Nora, let’s go and say hi to the gems,” Steven said. 

Nora burrowed her face into Lion’s back “Nu uh.” 

Steven looked at Lion. “Sorry buddy, looks like you have a fan. Come on Nora, Lion is ready to go and eat.” 

Taking his phone out of his pocket, he saw that it was already past 1 in the afternoon. He thought to himself that he hadn’t eaten since dinner and was starting to get grouchy from the lack of food and sleep. 

“Nora.” Steven started but was cut off by Connie stepping up to Nora. 

“Hey Nora, I bet they have all kinds of yummy food that you’ve never even eaten before in the temple! Would you like to go? You wouldn’t want Lion to be hungry, especially after all of the warping he’s been doing today.” 

Connie looked to Lion who obliged her with a big yawn as he laid down on the sand. “See? He’s tired and hungry from taking us around all morning. Won’t you let him go eat and sleep?” Nora looked up to Connie, then to Lion and started to get up. 

“What does Lion eat?” she asked Connie as she reached her hand out to her. 

Connie looked at Steven and winked as she started to walk up the stairs to the house. “He likes to eat lizards, crystal lizards!” Nora looked back with a disgusted look on her face. 

“Gross, Lion! I bet those don’t taste very good. Why don’t you eat something tasty?” 

Lion continued to look away down the beach, ignoring the situation going on around him. Steven chuckled at the scene that just played out in front of him and then began to climb the stairs after Connie and Nora. 

“Let’s get this over with, I guess,” Steven sighed.

They walked through the screen door and there sitting on the couch was Amethyst and Garnet. Steven looked to the kitchen and noted that the fridge was back in place, but looked a question at Garnet. 

“Pearl isn’t here right now, but she should be back soon. I’ve told Amethyst everything that I saw in my future vision, but we would like to hear it from you.” 

Steven had finally looked at Amethyst in the face and noticed that she had not broken her gaze from the small girl holding onto Connie’s hand. He had seen that look on her face once before back when she was trying to cheer him up after they found out about Pink’s origins and she took him to Fish Stew Pizza. Steven sighed and walked to the kitchen, grabbed a glass of water, and drank it as a vain attempt to delay the inevitable. 

Connie looked at him and said “Hey Steven, Nora and I are going to go up and I’m going to show her how to play video games while you guys have your talk.” She then looked down at Nora. “Come on munchkin, we’re going to have some fun while they talk.” 

Nora beamed at Connie and looked to Steven who grinned and nodded. “This will be boring so go play while we talk and then when Pearl gets here, we’ll all make introductions.”

“Pearl?! Ooh, what color is she? Oh Yellow Pearl is so funny, and Blue Pearl is so pretty!” Nora tugged on Connie’s hand and brought her down to her face and whispered in her ear. “But don’t tell them but Pink Pearl is my favoritest. She takes care of me and White and she’s always smiling.” 

Connie grinned as she stood back up. Steven cocked an eyebrow at her and she shook her head, winked, and did a motion like a zipper across her mouth and threw away the key. Steven grinned at her display and she received an excited giggle from Nora who started pulling on Connie’s arm. They climbed the stairs to the second floor and turned on the TV to which they heard an excited squeal from the little girl and a “What’s this?!”

“Steve-man, I’m trying to keep my cool over here, but could you please let me know what’s going on so I don’t freak out? Who is that girl, and why is she dressed like Pink Diamond, and why does she have freaking diamond eyes!?” Steven looked at Amethyst and visibly deflated as his shoulders slumped. 

He walked back into the living area and stood in front of the present crystal gems. “She’s my little sister, Nora. White, Blue, and Yellow made her using Dad’s blood and the shards of the gem that Mom created to fake her shattering.” 

Amethyst’s jaw dropped “Whhhhhaaaaatttttt!?!?!” 

Garnet removed her glasses, revealing a sad expression. “Why? Did they tell you that much?” 

Steven slowly shook his head and looked between the two. “They said that when they thought that Pink was shattered, they gathered the shards that Mom had made. They tried to put them back together and they put their power into it to try and bring Mom back. Obviously, it wouldn’t work. So when they found out about me, they thought that they would try and recreate what Mom did. The results are currently playing Golf Quest Mini on my bed.” Garnet had tears in her eye again as she looked at Steven. 

Amethyst looked a mix between mad and confused. “Didn’t they know how messed up this was? And, dude, why are you babysitting their little experiment?” 

Steven looked at Amethyst. “Because her gem is dying and I have to help her.” 

Amethyst and Garnet sat up straight and looked at him. Garnet said “Explain what you mean by that.” At this point, he heard a thud from behind him as Pearl walked out of the bathroom with tears pouring down her face. 

“Pearl? What were you doing in the bathroom?” Steven asked.

Pearl never stopped looking at where Nora was giggling and trying to swing the controller like it was an actual putter.

“It’s all my fault. It was bad enough that one child suffered due to my actions, but now there is a second.” She slumped to the floor and Steven ran to her and wrapped her in a hug.

“No Pearl, this isn’t your doing at all, you didn’t know that the Diamonds would do this. You didn’t give them the idea,” Steven said. Pearl pushed him away but held onto his shoulders an angry expression on her face.

“I’m the one that left the pieces there for them to pick up! I’m the one that went along with your mother’s plan! I’m the one that is causing that poor girl to die and she did nothing wrong except to be born! Just! Like! I! Did! To! You!” Pearl started sobbing uncontrollably as Steven tried his best to comfort her. 

He had no idea that Pearl thought that way about her part in all of this. “Pearl, don’t do this. Don’t blame yourself for something that you had no part in.” Pearl looked over at Garnet with a bewildered look in her eyes and that was when Steven noticed lines forming on Pearl’s face. “Pearl! You need to calm down!” At that point they all heard a small voice from above them. 

“Pearl, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I did to you, but I’m sorry.” Nora had tears streaming down her face. 

Pearl looked from Steven to Nora to Garnet and she broke away from Steven’s grip. “I can’t, not again. I have to go, I have...” POOF! Pearl’s form disappeared in a puff of smoke and her gem hit the wood floor. 

“PEARL!” everyone in the room shouted. Steven, who was the closest, picked up her gem and checked it for cracks, giving a huge sigh of relief when he didn’t discover any. 

Nora was sobbing as Connie tried to calm her. She picked her up and carried her down to Steven. “I’m so-sor-sorry!” Nora wailed as Steven reached out to pat her head. 

Amethyst came up beside Steven and looked from Pearl to Nora. “It’s okay, little dude, these things happen. Pearl is just hurt but she’ll be back.” 

Garnet stepped up to Connie and looked at Nora’s crying face. “Sometimes when a gem is hurt, we retreat into our gems to recover. Pearl will be back before you know it.” Steven couldn’t help but feel shocked that they had told him the same thing when Pearl was poofed when he was younger. 

Nora began to quiet down as she looked at Garnet. “Why is she hurt? Is she sick?” 

Garnet reached out and hesitated for a moment but touched the young girl’s face. “You could say that she is sick, but that’s not completely accurate. Pearl had something that hurt her a long time ago and something reminded her of it. That hurt came back and she went into her gem to get better. Does that make sense?”

Nora sniffed and wiped snot from her nose on her pink glove. “I know that I’m sick and it hurts, too. I don’t want Pearl to hurt like that.” 

Connie placed the young girl on the floor and she stepped over to Steven. She reached out to touch the gem in Steven’s hand and he held her out to her. “Pearl, I’m sorry that you’re sick. Please get better. I never even got to tell you how pretty you are.” 

Amethyst then reached out and wrapped the two kids in her arms. “You two are so much alike, I can’t stand it! Nora, did you know that one time when Steven was younger, I got poofed and this guy protected me while I was in my gem? Of course, I’m totally awesome so I came back almost immediately.” Nora, who was now only a few inches away from Steven’s face, looked at him as he looked up at Amethyst. 

“I remember that you came back with four feet and a giant ear.” 

Amethyst dropped him and shapeshifted to where her hands were now feet. “That’s because I like walking so much!” After setting Nora down, she did a cartwheel around the two much to Nora’s delight as she started trying to chase Amethyst. 

“This will take time, but none of us blame her or you for this, Steven. Pearl will come around once she has a chance to figure out how she feels about this.” Garnet placed her hand on Steven’s head as Connie walked up to hug him from behind. 

“Garnet, why was Pearl in the bathroom?” 

Garnet sighed slightly. “I saw you tell us about Nora in my future vision and I saw a highly likely scenario that Pearl would run away and get hurt or hurt herself if she was out here with us. By telling her to hide, I saw a much more likely chance that she would be able to accept this. This scenario was also a possibility though it didn’t seem as likely.” 

Steven looked down at Pearl then up at Garnet. “I had no idea that she felt like that about me.” 

Garnet removed her hand from Steven’s head. “Pearl blames herself for many things that were not her doing. She tries to smile for all of us, but time will tell if she ever really gets over all of this.” 

Steven gave a big sigh and looked over to where Amethyst had turned herself into a younger version of Steven. She was chasing Nora around the living room as the young girl laughed so hard that she started coughing. 

“How do you do that!? Can I do that too? I wanna turn into Spinel or into White Diamond. Do you think she would be happy to see me all big and glowing like her!?” 

Amethyst changed back to normal as she looked at Steven and shrugged. “Nora, shapeshifting is hard, especially for you half gems. Steven still has trouble with it sometimes.” 

Nora slightly puffed up and had an angry look on her face. “That’s not fair! I wanna try.” She then started straining and smooshing her cheeks while repeating “Spinel, Spinel, Spinel.” She then threw her arms wide with a “Whaa!” sound and looked at herself. She had not changed, but she did get a laugh from everyone in the room.

“I’ll teach you how to do it one day, but right now, we have to get you over being sick.” 

Steven crossed his arms as Connie walked around him to look him in the face. “Steven, have you tried to heal her gem yet?” 

Steven met her gaze and slowly shook his head. “I’m worried that it might do something to her. If the other Diamonds weren’t able to heal her gem, then I don’t see how I could. I’m worried that it might make things worse.” He lowered his head and looked at the floor. “This also still feels like some sick joke and the Diamonds are just trying to get me to try so that it’s my fault if she gets hurt.” Connie reached out and placed both of her hands behind his head and laced her fingers together she then placed her forehead against his and used that to lift his face up so that their noses were touching.

“Steven, I know that this doesn’t feel real and I know that it’s really messed up that you are even in this situation. If I’m being honest, if I went to Homeworld right now, I would give the Diamonds hell for putting you—” Connie paused and closed her eyes “—and Nora through this mess when neither of you wanted any part of it. But she is here now—” Connie leaned back from him then and motioned her hand toward where Nora was talking to Amethyst on the couch. “—and that little girl needs you to be there for her. More than anything or anyone right now.” Steven sighed and stood a little straighter.

“Alright, Jam Bud, but I need to get something to eat before I fall over first. At least a protein shake.” 

Connie put her arm around his shoulders as they walked to the kitchen still holding Pearl in his hands. “Nora, Amethyst. Let’s make something to eat so Steven stops being so grumpy and moody.” She grinned as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. 

“Hey, I’ve been up since 2 this morning so cut me some slack.” 

She removed her arm as she made him sit on a stool. “I’m sorry, My Liege, letesth me makesth thou a mighty lunchesth so that you may recover from thine ordeal.” She made sure to do the proper amount of raspberries as she pronounced her “th” sounds. 

Steven looked indignantly down his nose at her with a grin. “Thankesth thou mine faithfulesth knightesth,” returning the same raspberry treatment to her and they both broke down into giggles.

“You guys are weird and you spit everywhere.” Nora was sat on the stool next to Steven by Amethyst who then walked around the counter to help Connie. 

“Nora, what kind of food would you like? What did the Diamonds feed you on Homeworld?” Her eyes lit up then as she described what sounded like nutrient paste to Connie and sounded disgusting to Steven. 

“Did it taste good?” Steven said as he leaned one elbow onto the counter as he slightly turned toward her. Nora looked confused by the question. “It made my belly stop hurting, so it was the best.” 

Connie looked at the little girl sitting beside Steven. “Nora, prepare to be amazed. Amethyst and I are going to make you some pancakes and then you’ll realize why taste is so important to humans and half humans.” Connie beamed at the two of them and saw Steven glance at her. “Don’t worry, Steven, I’ll make you something without as many carbs and sugars.” She saw relief in his eyes. 

“Thanks Connie, you’re the best.” 

Garnet showed up then with a small pillow and a lamp. “For Pearl. Nora, can you please put this pillow over against the post by you?” The young girl did as she was asked once Garnet handed her the pillow. “Can you plug the lamp into that socket by you as well?” Nora’s eyes glowed with amazement when the lamp turned on. “Steven, can you—” Steven cut her off and held up his hand. “Nora, would you mind taking Pearl and putting her on the pillow, please?” Nora’s eyes went wide and had stars in them as she gently took the gem in her small hands. “Careful, don’t drop her.” The girl focused everything on gently laying the gem down on the small pillow. She then continued to stare at it as if the gem was going to jump off the pillow if she looked away. Steven and Connie giggled as they watched her as Garnet and Amethyst smiled. 

“This is really messed up, but it sorta feels right. Like we got little Steven back or something, I don’t know.” Amethyst relaxed as she smiled at the little girl with the Pink Diamond eyes staring at the Pearl laying on the pillow. Garnet smiled and nodded as she made her shades reappear. 

Connie and Amethyst made lunch for the three of them and they all had a big laugh as Nora practically exploded in excitement after her first bite of pancake. “This is WAY BETTER than the stuff on Homeworld!!!” 

Connie beamed with pride. “Told you!” Nora didn’t say another word until there was nothing left on her plate. 

Once they finished eating, Nora hopped down from the stool and started running to Steven’s bed to play more games. 

“Nora, where are you going?” Steven called after her. 

“I wanna beat this boss wind thingy that Connie and me were trying to beat!” She was half way up the stairs when she stopped to look at them. “Come on Con…” Garnet leapt as fast as she could as the young girl visibly paled and fell forward. Garnet caught her in mid air.

Steven jumped down from the stool and ran to where Garnet stood with Nora in her arms. “Steven, she’s cold. I don’t think she’s breathing.” Garnet reached down to Nora’s gem and placed the gem in her palm against it. “There is no energy in it, it’s like she’s gone but she’s not.” 

Steven grabbed Nora from Garnet and sprinted to the warp pad. Connie, Amethyst, and Garnet just a step behind him. The warp activated and he held Nora tight to him. “Come on Nora, snap out of it! Just hang on for a little bit longer.” At this point, Steven had turned completely pink in the warp as his stress levels peaked. They touched down outside of Rose’s fountain and that was when Steven saw his pink hands. He looked at Nora and at the three behind him and realized that he was speeding up again. He pumped his legs as hard as he could and leapt into the fountain. 

The Gems and Connie looked down as a pink streak trailed off from where Steven was standing on the warp and they heard a huge splash as they assumed that Steven had activated his gem. He had taken Nora to the fountain as fast as he could. They started running to the fountain.

He was there, holding her upright in the fountain with her back against his chest, making sure her gem was in the fountain. He was watching as the gem’s cracks were fading and vanishing, but she still wasn’t moving. Steven picked her up and laid her down gently on the rim of the fountain. Connie and the gems came running up.

“So, is she okay?” Connie blurted out as Steven stared at Nora and shook his head.

“Her gem looks fine now, so what’s going on?” Amethyst asked. 

“I—I don’t know what’s going on. She looks like she should be okay but it’s not working. She started breathing again, but it’s so weak.” Steven ran his hand through his wet hair as he began to glow Pink again. At that time, they heard the warp activate in the distance. The pink that was creeping into Steven’s face faded. They all looked up as Pearl strode towards the group. 

“It’s not going to work because she isn’t a diamond, she just has the gem that Pink created and the power that the other diamonds lent her. She isn’t whole but—” Pearl looked from Nora to Steven. “—you have Pink’s gem and only you can give her the energy that she needs to survive as well as this.” At this point, Pearl touched her gem and out popped a small pink sliver. “When I had changed into Rose’s form to poof her as Pink, one of the shards stuck in my hair and I didn’t notice it until I changed back. I was going to throw it away, but it reminded me of the last time I saw Pink as herself. So I kept it near so I would never forget who she really was.” Pearl held out the shard to Steven who gently took it from her palm. “Now, Steven, you will need to activate your Diamond power and push that power into her with this shard. Hopefully that will save her.” At this, Pearl looked down at Nora with tears in her eyes.

“I’ll never forgive myself for what my actions did to you two, but I couldn’t ever let one of Rose’s children die because of me. I have to be here for you two, I promised her and I promised you.” She then looked up at Steven who had tears flowing down his face. “Hurry, save her. Save your sister.” Steven began to glow pink and the shard began to glow brighter. He then placed his hand onto Nora’s gem and the young girl gasped as she quickly drew in air. Everyone watched as the pink that was in Steven flowed down through his arm and down into Nora. Steven gritted his teeth as it felt as if he was getting weaker. “Come on Nora!” 

Then he lost consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MasakoAkira (account owner) here! Neo_Ryu is the pseud that my husband uses for this account and I am trying to get him to continue on with the story. The note that is under this was left by him from the time that this was originally posted, so I’m just gonna keep it here:
> 
> I know that this fic is taking off, but I will not update as frequently as I would like as life stuff is occurring. Please leave your comments and feedback.
> 
> Thanks!


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